Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-07-21
TWO SOURCES OF LOSS.
An Instructive Article On Short Rows and
Vacant Place.

l A 1oSSSOc1lve Afttc10 Ou SoOFS xSOWS oesS
| Vacant P:.sWs.
L. planting aud cul:ivating two small
pieces of corn last year was forcibly
| reminded Of two sources Of loss which,
are quite common among farmers. yet
in many instances capable of being
avoided. NY farm upon one side forms
an L around land owned by neigh
Dor. and on either side of this angle
planted strip Of corn Of thirty -one.
rows in width. That running north
and south was bounded by the rail-
road. while that running east and
west, of about the same length Gwen
ty-six rods) was separated at the end
by swale filled before my ownership
with countless loads of stone. The two
pieces. embracing about q acres OF
ground. required separate blowing and
separate cultivating. and necessitated
twice as much turning around in all
the operations Of horse labor IS would
have been necessary if the two pieces
had formed continuous piece fifty
two rods long. The extra time taken
in blowing and narrowing each piece
by itself certainly equaled the
time of . man and team half a,
day. while the number of extra
turns Of horse and cultivator in culti-
waiting three times. twice in row.
was 24a In having four ends in
stead of two double the amount of
corn was tramped down in turning. A
state of affairs somewhat similar TO
this is to be found in half the farms in
OHIO. only the short pieces lie side by
side. Unfortunately. on my own
place the lay Of the land and q grad
ual planting to small blocks Of trees
through a period Of twenty years has
made it impossible to cultivate in
long narrow strips. and l am yearly
paying the penalty in increased labor
/ and expense of cultivation. Had l
duly considered the matter twenty
years ago my different paintings of
fruit trees would have been in par
allel rows as long as my farm would
permit instead of in blocks of twelve
or fifteen rods square. Last year I
was forced to plant my tomatoes in q
small rectangular plot, forty rows
wide and nine rods long. Could l have
planted them in four rows ninety rods
long. the cultivating would have taken
less than one-third the time. simply
on account of the many turnings re-
quired saying nothing about the
plants and fruit damaged on three
,.oXr. oIoo,. o-onrI ho ,~;aoo
A friend has seventy acres IN piece.
16O rods long and every three ''bouts'
with his drill complete two acres; just
three times turning at the further end
and twice at the home end does it.
Compare this with the turning neces-
sary on flat-iron shaped piece of two
acres and it is not difficult to estimate
the increased cost of crops raised on
small. irregular or pointed pieces.
Another friend on prairie farm in
Western Ohio has 40 acre field that
comes up to his barnyard and skirts
the long avenue that leads from his
house to the highway. This field is
cultivated in strips and there is no
crossing of other fields to pillow the
further ones. but the pillow or harrow
is driven out and back without waste
of travel save what. may happen at the
final furrDw. Of course farmers on
small, irregular or uneven farms can
not do this way, but many can do very
much more than they do in so arranS-
ing their fields as to avoid great deal
of labor A neighbOr with nice little
farm without slOuShs or hills has care
fully fenced it into fields of from four
to six acres with Virginia rail fence laid
quite crooked and fixed up with stakes
and riders to last life time. The
other loss suggested by my corn crop
was that from unoccupicd ground.
matter that makes heavy percentage
of shortness in the corn crop every
year. In my case it was not from poor
seed; that was perfect (although kept
in an ordinary corn-crib). The piece
running nOr:h and south not being
so good soil as the other was treated to
a barrel of high-grade superphosphate,
being planted by hand in drills at a
uniform distance with part of a tea
spoonful under each hill Two
kernels were dropped in place, and ]
failed to find half dozen hills where
both kernels did not grow. On tho
other piece. six rows next, the hedges
were more than half destroyed by
chipmonks taking the seed. As usual,
the re-planning came to nothing and
the blowing. narrowing and cultivat-
ing. for at least 81 rows. was all lost
This was equiv alent to nearly one per
cent Of the crop on the piece in
question, but know of several pieces
in my own town that had twenty to
forty per cent Of waste ground from
combination Of poor seed and depre-
datiOn of vermin. These illustrations
may lead thinking readers to endeavor
to cut off losses and expenses that
would ruin any other business except
farming.-L. b. Pierce, in n. Y. Tri5-
Nne.